“I’m right here,” I reply, doing my best to soothe him.

We sit here, staring out at our city, for a long time. We don’t sleep. We don’t speak. We just watch the lights twinkle on the hill, holding on to each other. I’ve never felt so close to another human being in my life. He says he’s thankful for me, but that goes both ways. My heart is in this, all the way.

And that scares me the most of all.

As I look back on my relationship with Sam, I realize that I was the one doing all the work. I wanted a relationship. I wanted to feel normal, for once in my life. I wanted him to love me and respect me and be everything that I’ve read in books for so many years.

And the reality wasn’t even close. So I left him and chose to keep any physical relationships with men light. It’s just sex. I have a very full life with my friends, and our business. Adding a man to the mix just always seemed like too much work.

And now I don’t know what I would do without him. Without the way he calms me, makes me laugh, makes me feel.

Yes, it’s scary, but I don’t want it to ever end.

“Wake up, Red.” There’s either a mouse walking across my cheek or Mac is kissing me.

I’m seriously hoping it’s not the mouse because I’m deathly afraid of them.

“Come on, sleepyhead.”

“Time is it?” I ask, and open one eye, relieved to see Mac sitting on the bed. He’s holding a steaming cup of coffee and smiling down at me. He’s also fully dressed.

“It’s still early, just a little after seven.”

“I’ve only been asleep for three hours.”

“I know, and I’m sorry about that, but I brought you coffee.”

I stare at him out of my one eye, the other is still asleep, and take a sip when he presses the mug to my lips.

“Mm, good.”

“I’m learning how to make your coffee just the way you like it,” he says proudly. “I need you to pack a bag.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to take you somewhere special.”

“I don’t need to pack a bag to go to the roof.” My other eye opens now and I sit up, taking the mug from him.

“A different something special,” he says, leaning in to give me an Eskimo kiss. “Will you go with me?”

“I have to work—”

“It’s been taken care of,” he says quickly. “I’ve been up for a little while, making calls. I’ve got it all covered. All you have to do is pack a bag and get in the car.”

I blink at him, still waiting for the caffeine to kick in.

“Are you awake?” he finally asks.

“Okay.”

“Okay you’re awake, or—”

“Okay, I’ll go.”

His face lights up in pure happiness, so I lean in and kiss him on the lips. “Do we have to leave right away, or do we have time for some sexiness?”

“We should leave,” he replies, and buries his fingers in my hair. “But there will be plenty of time for sexiness once we get there.”

“Promise?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, then.” I hand him the half-empty coffee mug and drag myself out of bed. “I’ll be ready in thirty minutes.”

We’ve been on the road for thirty minutes. Mac still won’t tell me where we’re going, but we’re heading west, so we must be going to the beach. We can only go so far until we end up in the ocean.

I’m sitting quietly, reading, letting him be with his thoughts. He’s been unusually quiet since last night, but I imagine I would be quiet too if I had something similar go down with my parents.

“You’re quiet,” he says.

“That’s ironic, I was just thinking that I should leave you to your thoughts,” I reply. “How are you today?”

“Better,” he says, and signals to pass the car ahead of us. “Why do people drive so slow on this road?”

“Because it’s curvy.” I shrug. “Have you talked to Chase today?”

“Yeah, he said Mom slept like a baby all night. He was going to take her out to breakfast, and then they were going to do some shopping.”

“That’s great.” Mac takes my hand and kisses my fingers. “I’m glad that she’s doing well.”

“Me too.”

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“You haven’t guessed?”

“Well, I’m assuming the beach, but there are lots of those on the Oregon coast.”

“Cannon Beach,” he replies. “I own a condo there.”

“No way. That’s my favorite beach.”

“Good.” He smiles, then glances down at the Kindle in my lap. “I’m always the one reading to you. Let’s change it up. Read to me for a while.”

“Okay.” I turn it on and begin to read. This is a romantic suspense, but I’d just started reading the sexy part when he interrupted me. So, I pick up where I left off, describing a very detailed sex scene in a shower. This author is explicit with her language, and I glance over to see Mac’s hands white-knuckled on the wheel.

“Do you want me to stop reading?”

“You’re fucking killing me,” he growls. “But keep going.”

My lips twitch, and then he says, “And the shower is now on my list for this weekend.”